Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Concerning one of the questions that was a posed by a brother saying he was Maliki, what is duha prayer. Is that simply Zuhr prayer. But then he mentioned that the timings of that prayer was from after sunrise to when the Sun is at Zenith which is not the timing, to my knowledge, of Zuhr prayer!
Abu Hurayra related that the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said, “Whoever adheres to the Duha prayer shall have his sins forgiven, even if they are like the foam of the sea.” [Tirmidhi, 438]
Abu Hurayra said, “My Dear One (Allah bless him & give him peace) enjoined me with three: to sleep having performed the witr prayer; to fast three days every month; and the two rakats of Duha.” [Nasa’i, 1659]
Mu`adha said that she asked `A’isha (Allah be pleased with her), “How many rakats did the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) pray for the Duha prayer?” She replied, “Four rakats, and he would add what he wanted.” [Muslim 1175, Ahmad 23317, Ibn Maja 1371]
1. The Duha Prayer is a “mid-morning” recommended (mustahabb) prayer. It has nothing to do with the Zuhr prayer.
2. It is recommended after sunrise. Its ideal time is after a quarter of the morning has passed.
3. From the hadiths on the issue, the fuqaha established that its minimum is 2 rakats. Its minimum optimum number is 4, as the hadith from Sayyida `A’isha (Allah be pleased with her) would entail. Its maximum is 8.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.